I think that some peole talking about the $30 difference without take in consideration the 1TB hard drive that are over paying. So why Tivo has big gap between 1TB and 3TB boxes some similar with the iPhones and iPads 16gb, 32gb and 64gb capacity.

Other thing is about the hard drive warranty that is the most fail apart, so the return will be faster with the hard drive manufacturer, overall I will spend my money in extra years warranty with Tivo.

I am a newcomer to this community so if my question has already been answered, please excuse the repetition. I activated my Roamio Plus last weekend and have ordered a 3 TB replacement drive. The advice seems to be to wait at least 90 days before cracking the box. I'm concerned about transferring accumulated programs and SPs to the new drive. How best to do that? I have looked online at kmttg and while the introduction explains what it does, there are no step-by-step instructions. Can the transfers be best accomplished with kmttg and, if so, can someone point me in the direction of how to use it?

Actually, I verified this morning that while the case screw is T10, and so are the three that hold the drive brackets to the case, the screws holding the brackets to the drive are T15, but can be easily done with a T10 that has no wear-down. I noticed they felt a bit looser, so I grabbed a T15 and it was snug (as in any more snug and that T15 bit would've needed some persuading to fit).

This was the base Roamio, but I figure all that will be different with the Plus/Pro is four screws to mount the drive brackets to the case, as opposed to three (educated guess).

YMMV, and I'd use the right tool for the job, if you have it. Some will say if you don't have the right tool, then go get it (which is my usual position).

Well, if mine were T15 they sure hid it well. Didn't try a T15 bit when the T10 I had in hand appeared to fit perfectly. Three different Plus boxes.

I am a newcomer to this community so if my question has already been answered, please excuse the repetition. I activated my Roamio Plus last weekend and have ordered a 3 TB replacement drive. The advice seems to be to wait at least 90 days before cracking the box. I'm concerned about transferring accumulated programs and SPs to the new drive. How best to do that? I have looked online at kmttg and while the introduction explains what it does, there are no step-by-step instructions. Can the transfers be best accomplished with kmttg and, if so, can someone point me in the direction of how to use it?

Don't know why you'd wait 90 days other than out of some misguided sense of warranty concern. Best practice, imo, is to swap out the drive before first firing the box up. Keeps the original otb blank. Absent that, just put it in now..

Don't know why you'd wait 90 days other than out of some misguided sense of warranty concern. Best practice, imo, is to swap out the drive before first firing the box up. Keeps the original otb blank. Absent that, just put it in now..

The warranty concern is far from "misguided". TiVo knows if you replace the drive and could legally refuse to honor the warranty if they so desire.

The warranty concern is far from "misguided". TiVo knows if you replace the drive and could legally refuse to honor the warranty if they so desire.

Amen. They also are not obliged to provide technical support for a device the customer, or an unauthorized party, has modified. While reports of this happening are scarce, there have been a few "not so bright" people who told the CS Rep they replaced the drive, and a few who got a CS Rep that looked at the logs, noticed it, and denied technical support.

It's a real pet-peeve of mine when I see posts that say "Don't worry about it. If you have any problems, just slap the original drive back in and you will have no issues." - This may often be a true, based on that person's experience, statement. Yet, there is no guarantee it will hold true for every person, every time. TiVo can crack down, any time they please. They will still have copies of the logs on their servers, that they can review, in order to look for tampering. If they got really proactive, they could have a program look for, and flag, units that ever had anything except the original drive installed. This would make it impossible to sneak the tampering past them.

TiVo's policies/TOS agreements include the language that gives them the right to refuse service and support due to tampering, of any nature. It just has been something we have been lucky they have not been strictly enforcing, YET.

All that said, I've chosen the base Roamio due to it having the ability to support OTA, should I need to go without cable, or cablecards become impossible to get anymore. At the same time, 500GB is NOT enough space, so I've installed 2TB drives that I already had bought before the Roamio was even released. The reward outweighs the risks for me, easily. But, that is my own informed decision to make, not one anybody should tell me is risk-free.

The warranty concern is far from "misguided". TiVo knows if you replace the drive and could legally refuse to honor the warranty if they so desire.

Thanks for the advice. I'm inclined to agree that there's no down side to waiting the 90 days provided content on the original drive can be easily transferred to the new one. Any ideas on that? Is kmttg the best way to go and, if so, how is that done?

Well, if mine were T15 they sure hid it well. Didn't try a T15 bit when the T10 I had in hand appeared to fit perfectly. Three different Plus boxes.

Great... So it worked for you (or fooled you). If you have the right tool for the job, you should use it. TiVo has been using the same fasteners for mounting drives to the brackets for generations. Sometimes they are manufactured on the loose-end of acceptable, sometimes on the tight-end of acceptable. I have some here, obviously from another batch, that a T10 will slip inside of with two fingers and no effort, I have some that a T10 would "work" on, if little torque is needed to loosen, and care is taken while tightening. It doesn't change that they are T15 and the T15 bit, or driver, is the correct tool for the job.

Why encourage somebody who may have a cheap, or worn-down, T10 bit/driver to use it? What is the point in that?

When you work in any field that requires the repairing/replacing of things, you get a natural feeling for when you are using a bit that is a size too small.

As for the general population, many/most people don't even realize there are multiple sizes of Phillips fastener heads, just as are there multiple sizes of flat ones. The list of all the fasteners that can be removed or installed with the wrong tool is virtually endless, which is why I'm not listing them all. A 13mm nut is so close to a 1/2" one, most mechanics won't dig for one socket if they have the other already in hand, or on their bench. At the same time, they don't use a Phillips head on a posi-drive fastener, or the other way around, nor does one who takes pride in their work use an adjustable wrench on every nut and bolt, just because it fits.

A while back, you asked me what my "sudden problem with you" was. I replied that I "didn't have one", and I was simply presenting facts that had been left out of a topic. Can you honestly tell me a T15 bit/driver does not fit the fastener? If not, the facts are that even your fasteners are T15 and a T15 tool is the correct one, making the T10 tool an incorrect tool. Let's not confuse those who don't know better, please.

Thanks for the advice. I'm inclined to agree that there's no down side to waiting the 90 days provided content on the original drive can be easily transferred to the new one. Any ideas on that? Is kmttg the best way to go and, if so, how is that done?

Since you can't just clone the data from drive to drive when you do swap drives, you'll have to copy any recordings with TiVo Desktop or kmttg (or whatever utility does the job the way you prefer). The problem area is content your cable provider may flag as "protected". Protected content can not be moved from the drive it is on, at this time, with any known utility. Somebody is working on a tool for this, to clone the drive contents, then expand the capacity (since the Roamio won't do it for you), but they say it will take months to get it to the point of testing by the public.

Season Passes can be backed up and then restored with kmttg. TiVo has an online Season Pass Manager (I call it SP "Mangler", since it copies them in a random order). The TiVo tool can only work between two distinct TiVos. You can't use it for a drive swap in the same unit, unless you use it to shuffle them to another unit first, then use it to shuffle them back again.

As I tested for myself, NOTHING is preserved, if you set things up, then upgrade the drive. The only thing you don't have to repeat is the TiVo software update, since the OS is stored in flash memory now.

Thanks for the advice. I'm inclined to agree that there's no down side to waiting the 90 days provided content on the original drive can be easily transferred to the new one. Any ideas on that?

Some things of which you you need to be aware. Any content that is marked "Copy Protected" cannot be transferred. Some cable companies mark most, if not all content this way. TWC is particularly egregious. Most all of them do it for premium channels such as HBO and Showtime.

You'll also need something to get the recordings back to the TiVo. kmttg does not have that capability. I'd recommend you at least try pyTiVo if you have any PC skills at all. If not, you may want to go with TiVo Desktop.

Quote:

Originally Posted by telecomjd

Is kmttg the best way to go and, if so, how is that done?

I'd recommend installing and "playing" with it. The built-in help is very good and there is an entire thread here devoted to support.

One other factor you might take into consideration: If most or all your recordings are not copy protected and you have or can add sufficient drive space to your PC, then upgrading the drive in the TiVo is less urgent as you can "offload" the recordings to the PC. And who knows? The new "upgrade" tool might be ready by the time your warranty is up.

Some things of which you you need to be aware. Any content that is marked "Copy Protected" cannot be transferred. Some cable companies mark most, if not all content this way. TWC is particularly egregious. Most all of them do it for premium channels such as HBO and Showtime.

You'll also need something to get the recordings back to the TiVo. kmttg does not have that capability. I'd recommend you at least try pyTiVo if you have any PC skills at all. If not, you may want to go with TiVo Desktop.

I'd recommend installing and "playing" with it. The built-in help is very good and there is an entire thread here devoted to support.

One other factor you might take into consideration: If most or all your recordings are not copy protected and you have or can add sufficient drive space to your PC, then upgrading the drive in the TiVo is less urgent as you can "offload" the recordings to the PC. And who knows? The new "upgrade" tool might be ready by the time your warranty is up.

Thanks to all for the very informative advice. It appears I have several alternatives and will have to experiment to see which is most suitable. Glad to have found this thread. Lots of good information from very knowledgeable people!

Amen. They also are not obliged to provide technical support for a device the customer, or an unauthorized party, has modified. While reports of this happening are scarce, there have been a few "not so bright" people who told the CS Rep they replaced the drive, and a few who got a CS Rep that looked at the logs, noticed it, and denied technical support.

It's a real pet-peeve of mine when I see posts that say "Don't worry about it. If you have any problems, just slap the original drive back in and you will have no issues." - This may often be a true, based on that person's experience, statement. Yet, there is no guarantee it will hold true for every person, every time. TiVo can crack down, any time they please. They will still have copies of the logs on their servers, that they can review, in order to look for tampering. If they got really proactive, they could have a program look for, and flag, units that ever had anything except the original drive installed. This would make it impossible to sneak the tampering past them.

TiVo's policies/TOS agreements include the language that gives them the right to refuse service and support due to tampering, of any nature. It just has been something we have been lucky they have not been strictly enforcing, YET.

All that said, I've chosen the base Roamio due to it having the ability to support OTA, should I need to go without cable, or cablecards become impossible to get anymore. At the same time, 500GB is NOT enough space, so I've installed 2TB drives that I already had bought before the Roamio was even released. The reward outweighs the risks for me, easily. But, that is my own informed decision to make, not one anybody should tell me is risk-free.

YMMV, but as someone who has had an expanded TiVo through multiple generations over the past 13 years, and who has seen the company be really respectful to a hacker community over those years, the reward was worth the risk to me as well.

There's no way in heck I would try to remove/replace three months of recordings via PyTiVo/Kmttg. Too much hassle/time. I saved $30, have a 1TB to use elsewhere if I want, and I cross my fingers there's not an issue.

If in any way you are squeamish about upgrading a Plus immediately, vs after the warranty period, I would recommend just spending the extra $30 and get the Pro.

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YMMV, but as someone who has had an expanded TiVo through multiple generations over the past 13 years, and who has seen the company be really respectful to a hacker community over those years, the reward was worth the risk to me as well.

There's no way in heck I would try to remove/replace three months of recordings via PyTiVo/Kmttg. Too much hassle/time. I saved $30, have a 1TB to use elsewhere if I want, and I cross my fingers there's not an issue.

If in any way you are squeamish about upgrading a Plus immediately, vs after the warranty period, I would recommend just spending the extra $30 and get the Pro.

If you shop the website the difference between a Plus and a Pro is $200, not $30. If you know how to get a Pro for $429.99 plus service please share.

Personally, I rip the cover off of all of my TiVos and replace the drive before I even put batteries in the remote, but I do it eyes wide open. Pointing out possible pitfalls to that method is a good thing.

If you shop the website the difference between a Plus and a Pro is $200, not $30. If you know how to get a Pro for $429.99 plus service please share.

Personally, I rip the cover off of all of my TiVos and replace the drive before I even put batteries in the remote, but I do it eyes wide open. Pointing out possible pitfalls to that method is a good thing.

As you said, YMMV.

I think he was referring to the difference in price of purchasing a Plus and a 3TB drive vs. buying a Pro.

FWIW, you can get a Plus with a 3TB already installed for $569 from weaKnees. I find it interesting that they initially weren't going to carry the Pro since the only difference is stock drive size. Now they are carrying the Pro for $30 more than the Plus with the same drive configuration.

You can always get a Plus, and then wait until the 3tb's go down in price (ex:watch slickdeals for a really good deal)
I got a plus and so far have been fine on the 1TB (The Comcast X1 box I had only had 500gb, so this is 2x the space, and much less buggy)

If I start to run out of space, I'll look for a good deal on 3tb drives.

Don't make the mistake of buying a product with a rebate from TigerDirect because they are crooked, as I found out. The drives are shipped bare without the original retail packaging which is expressly required for the rebate, as the terms and conditions state.

Their customer service department is awful because they advise you to submit the rebate anyway, but I called the company who handles the rebate and they stated the rebate will be 100% denied without the UPC from the box.

Bottom line, if you buy from TigerDirect don't expect to ever see the rebate.